PAXEast Hands-On Preview – Ms. ‘Splosion Man

The Gunstringer was one of the better games I got to get hands-on time with at PAXEast, but it wasn’t the only slice of absolute awesomeness I got to play at the Twisted Pixel booth. I also got to play the followup to their smash hit Xbox Live Arcade Game, ‘Splosion Man, which is probably the Twisted Pixel game that most of you have played. ‘Splosion Man was a puzzle-platformer where you controlled an insane science experiment gone wrong as he causes mayhem through the massive science laboratory that created him.

In the new game in the series,Ms. ‘Splosion Man, Team Science is at it again. They have finally succeeded in catching ‘Splosion Man by luring him into a trap with a giant cake (clearly a lie); but the celebration is cut short when some champagne is spilled on an electric source, which causes another lab accident that creates Ms. ‘Splosion Man. Now she has escaped the lab and is leaving a beef steak filled path of destruction in her attempt to rescue our original hero.

The team at Twisted Pixel had only six short months to develop the original game, so many of their ideas ended up never seeing the light of day. This time, however, they had much more time for development and were able to expand greatly on the original design, creating much larger and more intricate levels that even leave the endless corridors of the Team Science compound and allow you to see what life it like in the outside world. The first level I played involved the return of an iconic giant robot from the first game, but instead of the one room boss battle from the first game you fight him throughout an entire level of the game which spans roughly 10-15 minutes long (much longer than the levels of the original ‘Splosion Man). The second level I played allowed me to leave the Team Science building, where I had to jump (or ‘splode which is how ‘Splosion people jump) from flying car to flying car to make it to the next building. On top of the larger set pieces and improved graphics there is also a ton more content in the way of animations, I am going to guess that in the fifteen minutes I played I saw no less than ten different walking animations and thirty different random things that Ms. ‘Splosion Man does including talking to herself on her hand cellphone and singing and dancing.

The original ‘Splosion Man had about fifty levels so we can expect that Ms. ‘Splosion Man will be rocking about the same amount if not more. There will also be a series of Co-Op levels which provide a larger challenge that relies on teamwork to make it to the exit. There is also going to be a bevy of original music by Chainsaw, though I have yet to hear any of it I heard that at least one song is about a large female scientist named Mandy. Twisted Pixel also is known for the large amount of unlockable content and Ms. ‘Splosion Man will be no different; music, videos, gamer pics, themes, and avatar items are to be expected for completing certain objectives.

Ms. ‘Splosion Man has no release date set though it will be in 2011, I’ll guess in the Summer. As Twisted Pixel is my favorite XBLA developer and ‘Splosion Man is one of my favorite downloadable titles you know I will be purchasing this one on day one with a review to soon follow… can’t wait. Also check out the PAXEast Swag Bag Contest we are having as there are a few Ms. Splosion Man buttons in the bag.